Spool



jan, 2, E930.. G. D. ATwooD SPOOL Filed Oct. 8, 1927 Patented `lan. 21, 1930 UNITED s'ra'rasI tutos PATENT OFFICE srooL' Application led October 8, 1927. Serial No. 224,803.

r1lhis invention relates to improvements in spools or bobbins and particularly such spools or bobbins as are used for receiving and carrying fine silk, rayon, yarn, etc. For con- 5 venience the term spool will be hereinafter used and as used will include bobbins.

L@ne form of spool heretofore used for the purpose for which my improved spool is designed has consisted of wood with the barrel and flanges thereof in one piece. Such spools are very expensive tomanufacture, so much so that they have to be sold to users of silk, rayon, etc., hereinafter called thread, with the agreement on the part of the manufacturer of such thread that he will redeem them, when called upon by the user thereof to do so, at certain stipulated. redemption prices.

Later forms of spools with hard wood barrels and heavy fibre ends and designed for the same purposes as these solid wooden spools, have been suggested and used commercially. These spools have the advantage over the solid wooden spools that they are cheaper to manufacture but great care and skill has to be exercised in their manufacture, partie! ularly to secure a close fit between the barrel and its flanges' so as to avoid gaps between them in which the thread might be caught while being wound upon the spool, with the result that it would be broken when unwound. As a matterjof fact, according to ordinary practical manufacturing methods it has not been possible to secure such a close contact or fit between the barrel and its fianges 'as will avoid the presence of such thread-catching gaps and, because of this, it has been necessary to interpose a washer of soft, yielding material between the barrel ends and flanges. Because of the character of the materials 0 used (hard wood for the barrel and heavy fibre for the flanges) and because of the need for this washer between the barrel and its flanges the manufacturing cost of such spools has been very high, although considerably less than that of manufacturing the solid spools referred to, and this high manufacturing cost has beenl objectionable, not only for the ordinary reasons concerned with manufacturing costs, but for the following addi.

tional reasons.

Because of their, high cost, such spools, like the solid wooden spools referred to, must be and are supplied by the thread manufacturer tousers thereof with an agreement for the redemption thereof by such manufacturer after the usen-has finished with them. Such redemption agreement requires the thread manufacturer to invest a large amount of capital in such spools and to keep a fund constantly on hand for their prompt-redemption as and when called upon to redeem them by the user. In addition to this these spools are frequently used over and over again by the user with the result that when .returned by him to the thread manufacturer they are practically worn out and useless. Y

rlhe high manufacturing cost thereof also presents a serious and really insurmountable obstacle to the export vof finished thread by manufacturers thereof wound on such spools because of the expense involved in the shipment of such spools back to this country for redemption.

It is the object of the present invention to provide a spool having the necessary accuracy in fit between the barrel and danges to avoid the thread-catching gaps before referred to and the manufacturing cost of which will be so low that they may be thrown away by the user, thus doing away with the requirement of redemption existing in the case of the solid wooden spools and the hard wood spools with heavy fibre ends.

These ends are attained by the provision of a spool having a barrel of yielding material, such as cardboard, for exam le, and anges thelinner faces of which are orced and held against the ends of the barrel with such pres. sure as to compress them sumciently to secure such a tight or close and intimate contact therewith that no thread-catching gaps will appear between them.

This is true whether or not the ends of the barrel are true or even, as ,even if they are not, all portions of the ends are so compress i, the only difference being that wh t majl be called the high portions are more compressed than the low portions.

rlhis is also true even if, in the course of manufacture or subsequently, the anges '100 .barrel ends, all portions of the barrel ends being suitably compressed although some may be more compressed than others.

To this I may add that a spool with flanges so tilted out of'such parallel or right-angular position will, under the outward pressure ex erted by the wound thread on the inwardly tilted parts of the flanges, have such parts moved outwardly and the other parts moved correspondingly inwardly and thus have such flanges moved or returned to their true parallel or right-angular position. And this will be done without disturbing the desiredgapavoiding contact between the flanges andthe barrel ends because those parts of the compressed ends thereof bearing against the inwardly tilted parts of the flanges will expand sufficiently to continue vin intimate gapvavoiding contact with the inner faces of the flanges.

A spool such as this is not only improved 'in constructionbut its cost of manufacture,

relatively to that of the spools before referred to with hard wood barrels, is so materially reduced as to do away with the necessity of the redemption agreement before referred to, its cost of manufacture being so low that such spools may be thrown away after use without any appreciable loss to the user. This is particularly true if sheet metal flanges be used, as I prefer to do, although the present invention, broadly considered,` is not to be solimited.

The material of the barrel will also preferably have a soft surface in which lingers with which the spool flanges lare provided may embed themselves, such fingers (which constitute another feature of the present invention) being provided as a safeguardin spoolsV generally having barrelspwith attached flanges against thread being caught in gaps between the barrel and flanges and as an additional safeguard in spools like that of the present invention for the same purpose .A c

4 but wlth suflicient pressure at all pomts to in case, after manufacture thereof, or during shipment or use thereof, the spobls. should develop wide gaps taking the innr faces of the flanges out of contact with the barrel ends.

In the accompanying drawing- Figure 1 is a side elevation of a. spool (full size, for certain purposes) embodying the present improvements; Y

Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same on the line 2 2;

Fi re 3 is a cross-section o f the spool on the line 3--3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged longitudinal section on the line 4--4 of Figure 3 showing (in dotted lines) one of the spool flanges tilted 'made of yielding material, preferably cardboard or other cheap libre, so that it will yield lengthwise orbe compressible lengthl wise at its ends, but, at the same time, be suiliciently rigid or stiff crosswise to properly receive and support the thread wound thereon. Thev-iianges 2 are preferably of sheet metal, for economy in the manufacture of the spool, Preferably also the flanges 2 are provided on their inner faces with recesses for the ends of the barrel.

In assembling the barrel l, flanges 2 and tubular rivet 3, the barrel ends rest against the inner faces ofthe flanges and the rivet 3 is then passed through the barrel with its ends projecting beyond the outer faces of the flanges. The flanges are then forced with considerable pressure against the barrelends which aire thereby compressed endwise with considerable pressure sufficient to upset the ends of the barrel, asshown at m in Figure 2. The ends `of the rivet 3 are then turned downward against the outer faces of the flanges and the inner faces of the flanges held in intimate contact with the compressed ends of the barrel, which make 'a close, yielding fit therewith, without any thread-catching gaps between them and the flanges. l

In the cutting of the spool barrels and their flanges one cannot de end upon securing perfect barrel ends and anges which will accuratelyfit, as, for exam le, in the case of the spools with hard wood barrels and heavy libre ends before referred to, where, for this reason, it has been necessary to interpose soft washers between the barrel and flanges. Such unevenness, however, is of no importance in` a spool embodying my invention because, as before pointed out, even if it is present, the barrel ends are compressed at all points, with a little more compressionV at one'point than at another as shown at w and :v2 in Figure l against the inwardly ti ted art of the flange movingthat part -outward y and the other part inwardly from the position in which the,

ange is shown by dotted lines to that in which itis shown in full lines in Figure 4.

Such restoration of the flange to proper posi; tion will not disturb the necessary lit or contact between it and the barrel ends because the heavily compressed part of thebarrel end in line with the inwardly tilted part of the flange will expand and continue such contact with it as it is forced outwardly.

To secure such restoration of the flange it is flared outwardly as at 5, so that the thread as wound upon the spool bears against the inwardly'tilted part of the ange, as shown at y in Figure 4. The formationof a threadcatching gap or opening between wound thread and the outwardly tilted part of the flange isthus avoided.

The material of which the barrel l is composed is not only yielding endwise but is also preferably suiiiciently soft so that iin ers 6 on the anges A2 may imbed themseves slightly therein. -Such fingers are provided as asafeguard for spools generally, and as an additional safeguard in the spool heretofore described, against the entrance of the thread into any gaps that may appear or e develop between the barrel and flanges of the s ool.

pTo facilitate the unwinding of the thread from the spool each of the flanges of the spool is provided .with the outwardly inclined inner face 5 just referred to and with an edge portion 7 which is inclined outwardly from the face 5 and is also rounded. lrVith a flange so formed the unwinding of the thread over the edge of the flange 2 is eased and is also even or uniform regardless of the position of the spool.

What I claim is 1. A spool comprising a barrel of yieldable material, a pair of of sheet metal flanges engaging the ends thereof, and means extendingthrough the barrel and engaging the outer faces of the flanges and uniting them to the barrel, the barrel being compressed endwise and the ends thereof upset by the pressure of the flanges thereon.

2. A spool comprising a barrel of yieldable material, a pair of sheet metal flanges engagmg the ends thereof and means extending through the barrel and engaging the outer faces of the flanges and uniting them to the barrel, the barrel being compressed endwise and the ends thereof upset by the pressure of the flanges thereon, said flanges being provided on their inner faces with a plurality of inwardly extending lingers whose ends are embedded in the material of the barrel.

3. A spool comprising a barrel of yieldable material, a pair of sheet metal flanges engaging the ends thereof,-means extending through the barrel, engaging the outer faces of the flanges and uniting them to the barrel, and a pluralit of fingers extending in-I l wardly from said anges with their ends embedded in the material of the barrel.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE D. ATWOOD. 

